Scincella lateralis
(Say, 1822) · speciesAt a glance
Sources10 archives
Databases and archives Scincella lateralis's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation6 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility20 166 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI7 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics7 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
Tree of SexTree of Sex Consortiumgenome & karyotype↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Scincella lateralis, formerly Lygosoma lateraleBrooks, G. R. (1967). Population Ecology of the Ground Skink, Lygosoma laterale (Say). Ecological Monographs, 37(2), 71–87. https://doi.org/10.2307/2937336 is a small species of skink found throughout much of the eastern half of the United States, and into northern Mexico. The ground skink differs from the majority of North American lizard species in that it is generally considered a forest dweller. Common names for this species include the little brown skink and the ground skink. However, the common name, ground skink, may refer to any species in the genus Scincella.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology4
Life cycle & reproduction4
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Scincella lateralis has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Scincella lateralis carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 304×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database · GoaT · Tree of Sex Database · TreeOfSex · vert
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type20 166 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions26 of 53 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 985 |
| Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 680 |
| Texas Memorial Museum, Texas Natural History Collectionlocation not on record | 680 |
| North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record | 634 |
| Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record | 552 |
| Washington, US | 369 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 333 |
| Louisiana State University, Museum of Zoologylocation not on record | 256 |
| APSUlocation not on record | 222 |
| Chongqing Museumlocation not on record | 212 |
| Southeastern Louisiana University, Vertebrate Museumlocation not on record | 175 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 175 |
| CASlocation not on record | 139 |
| Montgomery, US | 137 |
| Universidad Católica de Manizaleslocation not on record | 121 |
| Cambridge, US | 118 |
| Fort Hays State University, Sternberg Museumlocation not on record | 116 |
| EL PASO, US | 112 |
| Los Angeles, US | 109 |
| Berkeley, US | 103 |
| ASNHClocation not on record | 87 |
| New Haven, US | 67 |
| University of Texas at Arlingtonlocation not on record | 38 |
| Tacoma, US | 30 |
| ASUlocation not on record | 25 |
| Champaign, US | 20 |
| Provo, US | 14 |
| Ohio State University - Reptile Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record | 13 |
| Tempe, US | 12 |
| Chicago, US | 9 |
| Zacatecas, MX | 8 |
| München, DE | 7 |
| Natural History Museum of Utahlocation not on record | 6 |
| F. Scorina Gomel State Universitylocation not on record | 5 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 5 |
| University of Nebraska State Museumlocation not on record | 5 |
| Toronto, CA | 4 |
| mcnhlocation not on record | 4 |
| University of California Los Angeleslocation not on record | 4 |
| DC-JMClocation not on record | 4 |
| South Kensington, GB | 3 |
| San Diego, US | 3 |
| University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record | 2 |
| San Nicolás de los Garza, MX | 2 |
| Brussels, BE | 2 |
| 2 | |
| Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldilocation not on record | 2 |
| UCOCVlocation not on record | 2 |
| Ciudad de México, MX | 2 |
| Saint John, CA | 1 |
| Mount Pleasant, US | 1 |
| UBCBBMlocation not on record | 1 |
| Iowa City, US | 1 |
Where the DNA of Scincella lateralis was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.